Connectors that short if no connection is made.

[fatkatie]

I have sensors that I chain together as needed. They are in series. The last sensor must always have a shorting plug installed. Are there connectors that will short out their connections if no plug is installed? These are simple connections and require only 2 pins. (Each sensor box has two seperate connectors, an in connection and out connection.) Thank you.

 

[Les Jones]

Most 3.5mm jack socketshave a set of contacts that close when no plug is inserted. (This is normally used to connect an internal loudspeaker when the headphone plug is inserted.) If you connect the terminal that would normally connect to the speaker to the ground pin then the pin that would be fed with the audio output would be shorted to ground.

Les.

 

[dknguyen]

Are these sensors on PCBs you made yourself? If they are you can add circuitry to self-short which might be easier than finding a connector that can do it.

 

[AnalogKid]

2.5 mm (3/32"). 3.5 mm (1/8"), and 1/4" tip/ring connectors all are available with shorting contacts. Also, some RCA (phono) connectors have a shorting switch to reduce noise pickup in an unused input channel of an audio mixer. All of these are available from Digi-Key.

If you are talking about passing through a signal rather than shorting it to GND. then 1/4" tip/ring is where I would start. That product line has many switch configurations.

Please post a sketch of the wiring play you are trying to achieve.

ak